The right app can boost sales and connect your business to consumers.
Photograph: Seewhatmitchsee/Alamy

Businesses want to be the first port of call for their customers and what better way to do that than to have their offerings embedded onto a smartphone? A successful app means a business is only ever a few thumbstrokes away from a sale, while apps can also provide valuable data about customers’ needs and preferences. But while the best apps are often very straightforward, don’t be fooled: creating even the simplest interface takes a huge amount of time, research and resources.

Creating an app is time-consuming and potentially expensive, so businesses must first decide if an app is really mission-critical or advantageous. Market research is key, as the app’s ability to meet customer needs will ultimately determine how successful it is.

Nick Katz is co-founder and CEO of Splittable, an app that helps shared households divide up their costs and bills.

“We started with a website and that was getting used a lot,” Katz says. “We were growing significantly without spending any money on marketing. We always wanted to build an app, but we had to prove the concept worked first.”

Though Katz felt sure there was demand for his idea, he wanted to drill down further into customer needs and so began speaking to them directly. “Before we sketched anything out, we started talking to customers and non-customers, interviewing 100 people. We wanted to talk about the problems they faced sharing property. From that, we really decided to focus on the money side of things, rather than focusing on cleaning, for instance,” he says.

Following the initial market research, Katz and co-founder Vasanth Subramanian, an experienced coder, created a plan for the app and then asked customers for further feedback.

“We created a wireframe and then took it back to the customers. It’s called ‘paper prototyping’ when you ask them specifically what they will do at a particular screen,” he says.

“We did a soft launch, so it was on the app store, but we didn’t do any PR. We then got family and friends to download it and test it out. We discovered a few bugs, fixed them with an update and we were ready to go.”

The costs of creating an app vary significantly, depending on the project and company concerned. Industry insiders suggest a fairly basic app can be created for £15,000 to £20,000, although the average is more likely to be in the region of £50,000 to £70,000. However, depending on the additional back-end architecture required, it’s not unheard of for development costs to rise above £100,000.

Costs are also impacted by the skills of existing personnel and partners. Many businesses already have web teams in place, meaning they can utilise existing staff. However, unless a business has very strong coding skills, it’s likely to need some outside help.

Finding tech talent is getting easier, with sites such as Freelancer.com enabling coders to bid for work from employers. Coding Cupboard enables businesses to tap into the skills of students and graduates keen for experience and first commissions. Businesses should also seek recommendations from other entrepreneurs and companies that have successfully created apps before deciding who to hire.

Adam Twidell, founder and CEO of private jet brokerage PrivateFly, already had a strong web platform, but liked the idea of his customers being able to book a plane via their mobile phones. Since it launched in 2010, the app has been downloaded more than 100,000 times and accounts for 10% of the company’s bookings.

“The reason we wanted to do the app was for the PR and marketing. We wanted to be the first company to enable customers to book a private jet via an app,” he says.

Twidell hired a consultant to design the app and manage the process, although he was able to use his existing suppliers thereafter. “There are only so many ways you can make an app,” he says. “You have to follow one of a number of templates. Building an app from scratch is a lot easier than creating a website.”

Sarah Weller, London managing director of mobile consultancy Mubaloo, advises businesses looking for an app to first investigate whether they can buy one “off the shelf” to suit their purposes. For companies that do need to create their own, there is likely to be an ongoing process of research, feedback and updates. “For small businesses, the only way to really do it is to launch and then to use the data analytics to create an update,” says Weller.

Despite investing in research and development, many businesses discover that their apps receive a lukewarm response from consumers after launch. The important thing here is to work out what went wrong and learn from your mistakes.

This was the case for domestic services business Fantastic Services, led by CEO Rune Sovndahl. The company initially brought out its app, which enabled booking services, in 2009 but it didn’t work.

“The reaction was mixed, but overall it seemed that people weren’t ready to use a service of this type, so we put it on hold,” says Sovndahl. “The company then went back to the drawing board, did more customer research and finally relaunched in late 2014. Since then, the app has had 6,500 downloads.

Sovndahl says he has learned a lot about his customers from the process. “If I were to give any advice to entrepreneurs looking to create their own apps, I would recommend having a very clear plan before you start talking with developers. You need to know exactly what you want the app to do, and the outcome. You’ll also need to be clear on target audiences.”

How to stand out in the App Store

One of the big problems with apps is that the marketplace is hugely crowded and you need to make sure your customers can find you in the App Store. Andy Atalla of digital agency atom42, which has promoted apps for clients including Drinkaware and BoxNation, offers some advice on App Store Optimisation (ASO).

Use relevant keywords: The keywords you choose in your app name and description will affect visibility in app store search results, so choose wisely. Tools such as Sensor Tower and AppTweak are great for finding new keywords or seeing what your competitors are doing.

Use an app review plug-in: Good ratings are paramount and review plug-ins, which ask users for feedback while in-app, are by far the most effective way of generating positive reviews. Appirator and Apptentive are good options for this

Encourage reviews from users you know: It makes sense to ask employees or friends who have downloaded the app to leave an honest review. Remember, though, that fake reviews are never a good idea!

Include an email address in the App Store description: This allows users to contact you directly with support issues and prevents people airing their frustrations in a review

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